Starlight: Redshift

by the-pieman

Chapter 52

I wake up to large amounts of clamoring and a sea of people. I’m shaken out of my hammock and hear a “Sorry”.

I look up and see Twilight. “You were going to sleep through it, I figured you’d be mad if you missed it.”

“No, no, you’re right.” I look around with a big yawn and notice it’s just barely pink out, sunrise still a good hour away but the crowd has already tripled from last night. I rub my eyes and stand up. Another yawn and a quick full-body shiver to get my blood flowing and I’m mostly awake. “Didn’t miss anything, did I?”

“No, not yet. But everyone seems to be getting ready. Everybody has their pokéballs out, and several have their pokémon out, too. I’ve got Spearow waiting to call out if he sees anything - the dex says they have excellent eyesight.”

I see a lot of Bug types obviously, but most non-Bug specialists seem to have Grass or Fire types... Grass isn’t that good against bug though and isn’t Fire overkill? Huh, must have to do with the second type. Now what type is strong against Fire... eh fuck it, too early to think. I check my éTech and see I got about six hours of sleep. Probably tired ‘cause it’s so early then. Another yawn escapes me and I spit out a relevant factoid I can remember through my morning mental fog. “Fearow can spot prey three meters under the water’s surface without having to slow down from top speed. They also fly higher than most other bird pokémon by a long stretch.”

“Fearow... is Spearow’s evolved form right?”

I give a confirmative grunt in response. “Jus’ lemme stretch or somethin’. I’ll be awake in a minute.” I do a few calisthenics to get my muscles woken up and eventually my mental fog lifts. “Much better. Oh, and Fearow are lightweight with large wingspans. They can glide for hours on end with only a couple initial flaps. Gonna have one hell of a pokémon when that little guy grows up.”

Twilight smiles and claps happily. She acts a bit like Pinkie whenever she’s given praise. Probably one of the reasons I don’t mind complimenting her, really. “So yeah, I caught a Lunaverde last night. What’d you learn from the Devon guys? Anything interesting?”

“Oh! they have two branches here, for one thing. And one is right here in the Port!” she says. “as well, it seems the made something they call Evolite, which is apparently an ‘artificial mega stone’, but I didn’t have time to ask about that before we started talking about evolution as a whole, and the two forms of it shown here, being evolution, in which organisms change over time, and the term ‘Evolution’, which refers to the metamorphosis of given pokémon, and where that originates from, and it turns out that really ancient pokémon, from fossils well before the point where they can be revived currently, didn’t have any Evolution lines. At all.”

“Wow, so you mean years before Kabuto there were still pokémon but they couldn’t evolve? That’s amazing. And an artificial Mega Stone? That’s... fascinating, wonder if it works the same way, I’d love to check it out. Guess we’ll head to their Great Barrier Port branch before taking the gym huh?”

“I still want to see the library, but other than that, definitely. Hey, we can go to Devon together, and then you challenge the gym while I’m at the library, how’s that?”

“Works for me.” I nod in agreement. “But first let’s see what’s got this crowd so eager. Say, where’s Rarity?”

“Oh, she’s talking with some Bug-Type breeding specialists. They’re over by the tent being run by the League to act as a Pokécenter.” she says, gesturing towards a white tent with a red top, and the league symbol in white on it. It’s a little far off, but now that I know what to look for, I can see it’s got four lanes cleared for easy access.

“Right, should take Oddish to them. Got paralyzed during last night’s catch and I didn’t get any Paralyze heals. The badge limitation on items sucks. I know it’s for balance but a full heal would be better and cheaper in the long run.” I turn for the tent when I hear a screeching noise from above and see Twi’s Spearow circling above us, then landing on the grass by Twilight. “Looks like he saw something.”

A ripple of conversations stopping passes through us, followed by the shout of, “Look! They’re ready!” from several directions, and I look to see the sun just barely peeking from the horizon... along with a series of huge, wide shapes, each butterfly-like, but angular and sleek, as if for racing, their wings slightly translucent and shedding long stripes of green and blackish lighting across the fields as a swarm of six-foot-long butterflies begins to near.

Well, they’re flying, but I recall being told they aren’t Flying Type, and the trainers using Fire types still baffles me. Oh well, might as well take the hint. “Alright Litwick, guess you’re up.” I toss the ball into the air and Litwick forms on the ground, happy and playful as ever. It turns to see the swarm and a look of awe covers the tiny little face on the living candle.

“Liiiiiiit...” Admittedly, I’m fighting back the same reaction. It’s like a living storm of gemstones...

Oh! I think I know what types it is.

A secondary Rock type would make Fire moves do normal damage, not super effective, and bug protects the Rock type from Grass. Clever trainers these guys. Well, since this is a once-in-a-year event I might as well catch two, right? I mean, I got two Great balls, might as well use them.

I stare at the spectacle as the mass gets closer, moving pretty fast like a sparkling green-black cloud in heavy wind. I feel like it’s coming right at me and I’m ready to fare the storm. Just another few minutes and they’ll be here in force. “Ready Litwick?”

“Lit!” it says, puffing up its little candle chest.

“Alright. It’s Rock too so don’t be afraid to give your flame all you got. Here’s the plan: When they get close, try and catch a pair in a Fire Spin, get them to stop. But ones with scarves and the like are off limits. Got it?”

The response is the same and reaction doubled, making the candle look adorably puffy. Awwww... Right, focus. Deep breaths. Get ready. Almost here. Get ready. And I’m ready. Let’s do this thing!

The swarm is mostly moving just over the height of the tents, so about ten feet up, and a few trainers are actually releasing their own right now to let them join the swarm. I’m distracted for a moment by a particularly heartfelt kid and his own pokémon, handing off a bright red scarf from the kid’s own neck.

Then Litwick chooses her targets, and uses an ember to tag a pair of them flying close to one another, then following with a Fire Spin as ordered, the two huge butterflies moving to hover within the vortex. Around me, others are doing the same with their own Fire Spins and a few are using Wrap similarly. A trainer with a Haunter simply has it glare at one, terrifying it into staying nearby.

I return focus to the two in my fire spin, noting I’m not the only one dealing with more than one at a time. Guess catching two or three isn’t unheard of. “Alright Litwick, Confuse Ray on both of them!”

Litwick nods and quickly sends out circling orbs of eerie light, and the two butterfly pokémon try to split up to dodge them, one succeeding and turning to speed forward, wing edge gleaming before slamming it into Litwick, wings literally slicing through the fire and I get a better look at it in passing. The wings are like two panes of glass or polished stone, fittingly, but they come to a wicked-sharp looking edge, definitely bladed. Litwick doesn’t have time to dodge, before being thrown away by the attack.

“Alright, different approach. Use Smog!” Litwick sends a cloud of the smoke and toxic particles, and the butterfly isn’t able to blow it away in time before getting a facefull of it. I finally locate its head, hidden by its dark coloration and shiny coating, making it look like just more neck. Its eyes blink, revealing that its eyelids are also crystalline and green. It gives a sickly cough.

“Alright, I think it’s ready!” I toss a Great Ball at it and cross my fingers that the 1.5 multiplier is enough. the ball shakes and rattles hard once... twice... three times... there’s a pause, and everything seems still, until I hear someone nearby yell ‘damnit!’ right as the Great Ball clicks.

I watch as the ball pixilates away and return my attention to the one still in the vortex of fire. “Alright, Will-O-Wisp that one, Litwick!” Smog might be too much, but I’m gonna try using a normal ball this time, and I think the DOT will work in my favor.

The eerie, ghostly orbs of fire chase down the drunkenly weaving pokémon, smashing into it and leaving its normally glossy wings shrouded in dust. It makes a high, keening noise, and beats its wings to try shaking off the clinging embers. Finally, the pokémon lands on two sets of legs, the other set high in a defensive posture, not unlike the Lunaverde last night.

I toss a regular pokéball and focus hard, blocking out the other commands from the trainers around me. Come on... the ball shakes. Come on... another shake... Come on... A third shake, this is it, catch or fail. I brace myself as there’s a fourth wobble and... the click! Yes!

I watch the ball pixelate just like the first and I feel elated. Three catches in one day and a night! I head off to the pokémon center tent, feeling very proud of myself. I hand my paralyzed Oddish still in its ball and my slightly damaged Litwick off my shoulder to a Chansey who looks them over then smiles, assuring me they’ll be fine. I head further into the tent and notice a PC. I can check out my new catches, alright. I swap Glados for the first of the mysterious flying Bug/Rock types, choosing the first capture. I hold the Great Ball up to the light. Not as shiny or impressive as the pokémon inside it, but the fact that it’s inside is a great feeling in itself.

I decide I should look around for Twilight and Rarity, just to see how they’re doing. I do see a familiar girl, but it’s not Twilight or Rarity though. “Amy! Hey, been awhile!” I call and wave as I pick my way through the crowd to the younger girl. “How’ve you been?”

She’s panting, and looks frustrated. “I- I couldn’t catch one. My pokémon were either too powerful or not powerful enough.” she says, looking like she’s about to cry.

I take pity on the girl. “Yeah, I know how that feels... I got one, but other than checking it off my ‘catch’ list, I don’t really know what I’m gonna do with it.” I say, holding up the Great Ball.

Amy lights up. “Hey, I have an idea! How about we make a trade, my Ghowl for yours? I forgot it was today until the last minute and wasn’t prepared, but I could still have yours, right?”

I think for a moment. “And a Ghowl is...”

“Right, you’re not from Otaria, a Ghowl is a Ghost-and-Flying type. It’s really pretty, but I’m not getting much use out of her.”

I decide that’s a fair trade, level not being important to me at the moment. “Alright, you have a deal. I think I saw some guys setting up a trading machine yesterday... uh, over there.”

We head over and I see a tent where the people were, but no special logos. Guess it was just a couple people deciding to share their equipment with the public. “Hey there, can we use your trade machine?” Amy asks first before I can even say hello or anything. She must be excited. Ah to be young like that when you can get away without introductions and it’s not considered rude...

The middle-aged man nods. “Sure! That’s what we set up for. Some collectors aren’t good at catching pokémon, after all.” He gestures at one of the two sleek, modern-looking machines. There’s a pad on either side, and simple intake ports just above them. Monitors are attached to both sides. I always assumed it showed the pokémon in the balls so you knew the other person wasn’t cheating you. And probably to scan for illegal pokémon too.

Nevertheless, we place our balls on separate pads and the balls are, rather than sucked up as I imagined, digitized by the intake ‘pipes’ and, in a similar way to the PC transfer effect, are scanned back, showing which pokémon was in what ball and the trainer IDs and such. I select to have the ID’s be overwritten and soon the machine, which made no noise except a few whirrs and beeps, redigistructs our pokéballs, the Great Ball now on Amy’s side. I take the Pokéball Amy had placed down and confirm it with my éTech that, yes it’s a Ghowl, and it’s ID has been printed to mine, rather than saying it was Amy’s originally and then traded. Cool, another Ghost type!

Amy looks totally psyched as she takes the Great Ball and tosses it out, and seeing the pokémon in a less frenzied or mobile state, it looks very pretty. Rarity will probably catch one herself and maybe have it work on a double-contest routine with Ledian. I’d like to see that.

Amy is excited as a... well, a young girl with an incredible pokémon, so I just give her a quick ‘seeya again!’ and make my leave, looking for the other girls. Giving Amy exactly what she wanted makes me feel pretty good, and I do have one in the box so I still have my own anyway... and a Ghowl too! Along with that Lunaverde I’m doing fantastic for just having one badge! Whoo! Today’s barely started and it’s already awesome, I can tell this is gonna be a great day.

I may have been done but the migration sure wasn’t. It’s like a maze of people and it takes a while but I finally manage to find the girls amongst the growing crowd of people and pokémon. Some guy with a Larvesta is having some serious trouble and I give him an apologetic look to say “Great pokémon, sorry about your shitty luck.” I get a “Can’t win ‘em all.” look in return and I continue on my way towards Twilight, Rarity seeming to have ran off in the last few seconds.

“Heya Twi, where’s Rarity?”

“Oh, she’s, uh, a little upset. She did her best, but she couldn’t catch any. She was really enthusiastic, but once they’d all passed...” she sounds pretty sad, too.

“Jeez, guess all our team luck went to me today. I caught two and one was traded for a Ghowl...” I suddenly get an idea. “Hold that thought Twilight, I’ll be right back.” I head over to the pokémon center tent and, picking up Oddish and Litwick, I trade Oddish and the Ghowl into the box and take out my second... wow, I don’t even know what they’re called yet. I laugh at my stupid aversion to spoilers.

Oh well, time to be that great friend that the ponies always wish I’d suddenly become. I head back to Twilight. “I got it, so where’d Rares run off to?”

“Oh, not far, dear... I’ll be fine.” Rarity says, though a noticeable sag of her shoulders is present despite her usual perfect posture. I walk up and sit down next to her.

“No luck huh?”

She just shakes her head. “And they were so enthralling! Did you see the way they sparkled? It was like a living gemstone in flight! And the way it-”

Rarity is probably going to continue waxing poetic about whatever the name of this pokémon is. “I have something for you. Here” I hand her the ball with mine in it and she takes it. “Still officially registered to me, but you just catch something I want later on and we can do a real trade and make that one yours for real.”

Rarity tosses the pokéball and out comes the second ‘whatever’ I caught. It takes a moment for it to sink in but once it does, I have to cover my ears from Rarity’s squeal. It does leave me open to a bone-crushing hug but... it actually feels pretty nice.

She giggles and laughs. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Hey, no idea what I’m even gonna use one for. I just wanted it to have it. Besides, you seem like you could put it to better use. So... enjoy I guess. But don’t think that this means you don’t owe me one later.” I grin.

Rarity just sighs. “Even when generous you’re still you, I suppose. Alright fine, it’s a deal. If I get something you want, we’ll trade.” Still, she’s smiling.

I nod and leave Rarity and her pokémon to their introductions and head over to Twilight. “That was really nice of you. Almost like you’re actually becoming a better person.”

I laugh. “Me? Become a better person? That’s the day Discord decides chess is fun without changing the rules.” This draws a laugh from both of them.

“That’s what you say,” Twilight responds, grinning. “But not what I’m seeing.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna get all mushy on you.” I say defensively, “Just figured... ah what the hell, I had extra.”

“Yeah, but I still say you’re improving.” she says, smiling.

“You keep thinking that when I buy you coffee and then switch it with hot chocolate.”

“You’re evil.” comes the still-happy response, and we share a laugh about how ‘evil’ that really is.

Not that I wouldn’t do it.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Aww, how can you Spoiler if its the part of the game youve arrived at? Its like buying the walk through hardback, and having all the text redacted.

[the-pieman]

6638890 Well, I know what pokemon it is and all about it, but Anthony doesn't he doesn't know what the author knows after all, he's just a character. A main character, but just a character either way.